Many humpbacks made an appearance on a recent whale-watching trip. Photo: Libby Etrie
Growing up in New England, I have always felt connected to the ocean. Much of my family has made a living on the water, and my mother taught me early that the ocean deserves respect because our lives depend on it. I have spent countless days on the water, but until a trip this summer with Whale and Dolphin Conservation and Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, I had never truly seen whales – not up close, not with the ocean suddenly coming alive around me.
I boarded the boat hoping to catch a glimpse of something wild and beautiful. I came home with that, and with a knot in my stomach I still cannot shake.
Whales Are Majestic, Awe-Inspiring – And Vulnerable
That day on the cruise, the ocean was bursting with life – white sharks cruising beneath the waves, humpback whales surfacing with power and grace, and feeding activity so intense that everyone on deck fell silent and simply watched. We saw the humpbacks bubble-net feeding, releasing bubbles that form a “net” to trap groups of fish to feed upon. The water would lie calm for a moment, then explode with action: rings of bubbles, wheeling seabirds, whales lunging through the surface with mouths open, tails rising into the air, followed by the thunder of a breach. It was joyful, humbling, and awe-inspiring in the truest sense of the word.
At one point I noticed a small vessel moving through the area where multiple humpbacks were actively bubble-net feeding. The whales’ activity was not subtle – certainly nothing a responsible captain could plausibly miss. The scale of the event, the birds, the surface activity, the repeated lunges, the whales coming up again and again, made it unmistakable. When whales are feeding at that magnitude, the ocean itself announces their presence.
Later, as the trip was winding down, I watched in horror as that vessel sped directly through the area where moments earlier a whale was breaching, slapping its fins on the water and playing. We couldn’t tell if the boat had harmed the whale, but we all feared the worst.
The contrast was stunning: a whale bursting with life, and a captain behaving as though the presence of that animal did not matter. Whale and Dolphin Conservation later identified the whale as Etch-A-Sketch and subsequent sightings suggest she escaped the encounter unharmed – a tremendous relief. But the experience reinforced how narrow the margin for error can be when humans and whales share the same waters.
The near miss was caught on video. It may be upsetting to watch.
Protecting Whales Requires More Than Good Intentions
The whales I saw that day were humpbacks, not North Atlantic right whales, but I couldn’t help thinking of the critically endangered species that the Trump administration has targeted in a broad assault on marine mammal protections. Barely 380 North Atlantic right whales remain on the planet, and vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear are the two leading causes of their injury and death. Yet instead of strengthening the safeguards these whales need to survive, the Trump administration and its allies are moving in the opposite direction: seeking to weaken vessel speed limits that protect whales, supporting efforts in Congress to delay rules to reduce deadly entanglements, and waging an all-out attack on the Endangered Species Act.
These threats are connected. Together, vessel speed limits, entanglement safeguards, and the Endangered Species Act form a safety net for whales already struggling to survive. When any part of that net is weakened, the whole system fails. Speed limits reduce deadly vessel strikes. Entanglement rules prevent fishing gear from slowly injuring and exhausting whales. A strong Endangered Species Act helps ensure protection comes before damage becomes irreversible.
Right Whales Deserve Our Protection
That is why action is needed now. I’m grateful to the thousands of CLF supporters who urged the government to reject its reckless proposal to get rid of speed limits that protect whales, and I’m proud to support CLF’s lawsuits to defend protections whales need to survive. But this fight cannot stop there. We must oppose all efforts to undermine the safeguards keeping the species alive.
What happened on that boating trip was a real-world reminder of what is at stake. Whales depend on people making responsible choices on the water, and they depend on leaders choosing protection over delay. If a captain can see whales actively feeding and breaching and still fail to slow down, we should not make it easier for government or industry to ignore the risks whales face every day.
I keep returning to the beauty of that day: the white sharks, the whales, the bubble feeding, the breaches, and the extraordinary abundance of life. That wonder should move us to act. We should be strengthening every protection that helps whales survive. If we are fortunate enough to share the ocean with these remarkable animals, the least we can do is strive to coexist with them in ways that allow them to thrive.
